Spanish "S"

Question

Now I thought my the Spanish S was the same as my S but I've been going through all the sounds here: http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/spanish/index.html

And the S in "suma, seco, mesa, cosa" (under modo - fricatives) is different.

I make the S by touching the tip of my tongue off the part of my palette just above my teeth while here the S isn't made with the tip of the tongue at all but by moving the middle part of the tongue up to the roof of the mouth.

This is the S with the little squiggle under it on that site.

I can make an S the other way but I find it really difficult to pronounce the rest of the word afterwards.

Is this right? Is it in all Spanish accents or a particular region? They have S with a squiggle down as "Castellano" probably meaning central Spain Spanish.

Spanish natives: what does your tongue do when you make the S sound?

I know it's probably not a big deal as in all of the Eye of the Peacock Mantis thread I don't remember Lazarus or Cogumela once commenting that someone had a bad S... but.. I want to know!

Answer 1

It is interesting that you bring this up. I just got Rosetta Stone (tosh raved about it and I couldn't resist). I turned the speech sensitivity way up high. I know I have trouble rolling my R's but I never thought I had a problem with my S! It took a few lessons before I realized that I needed to make it more prolonged like essssssssss. When the program says I'm right, my tongue is nowhere near my teeth and not on the roof of my mouth.

Did you get the Latin American one or the Spanish one? - rabbitwho, Sep 25, 2011

Latin American is Spanish ;). I think you mean the Spain one. - Tosh, Sep 25, 2011

Ha ha Tosh Spanish happens to be the adjective that refers to things from Spain as well as the name of the language! - rabbitwho, Sep 25, 2011

I know... but that's how RS lists them... Spanish (Latin America) and Spanish (Spain). - Tosh, Sep 25, 2011

Answer 2

There are two main s sounds in Spanish:

s like in zoo: in combination sd, ls

desde, isla

and the Spanish s, as I always call it when teaching English: like in salt, sister.

sábado, siesta

Thanks Heidi! Neither of those is like the one on the site, they both use the tip of the tounge. I wonder what they're talking about. - rabbitwho, Sep 25, 2011

Answer 3

I say the Spanish S when usually speaking English?... Basically what you have suggested as different is what I usually do..

Have you ever had a lisp? It sounds like a lisp to me but I'm probably doing it wrong since I'm not used to it. - rabbitwho, Sep 25, 2011

Nope :P - Felixlynx, Sep 25, 2011

Answer 4

The S is maybe the sound in which you can find the most differences between Spanish speakers. I'm used to hearing a lot of different S from native speakers, that's why I don't dare to correct anyone's S. Heidita's S has nothing to do with mine, for example. The same with Lazarus' .Not to speak about latinamerican speakers! ... -luckily for them-, because I got an awful northern sibilant S.

I find it terribly hard to pronounce the English z sound.

If I try to whisper, you will always hear my S over all. That's what we call: biSbiSeo. - cogumela, Sep 25, 2011

Hee hee thanks Mushroom, this is comforting. I'll just keep doing my own S. :D - rabbitwho, Sep 25, 2011

Answer 5

I have just had a week in Andalucía and I haven't hear an S at all. At least not towards the end of a word.. So maybe you worry unnecessarily? I find that when people don't understand me, it is because I have got a key word wrong, not because of the pronounciation of a single letter. Obviously, if you aim to speak perfectly, I can only applaud, from the sidelines, where I belong. If, on the other hand, you just want to take part, speak and be understood, truck on. You have introduced a new worry into my life..